Diary of a year of not buying video games (or books): June 2016

The month the dead came back, again

I had the original Dead Island but never really played it much. But this month the devs, who were one of the first major studios to add GNU/Linux support to their titles, released the Definitive Edition (DIDE) at 85% less for owners of the previous one. Hmm. Dilemma!

I remember not playing the original one because I was one of the people who had massive loading issues with it, so by the time it had loaded (5 minutes!) I didn’t feel like playing it anymore. In the Definitive Edition, this issue has been fixed.

Can I pass this off as upgrading something that I would not have played in its un-upgraded state? Yeah, I guess! So on the rediscovery list it goes. I’m also putting Dying Light on my wishlist for next year’s opening of the hiatus. I’d like to give developers Techland (cześć!) some money.

One of the advantages of this whole experiment is that I think a bit more about the companies I want to support with my purchases. Good GNU/Linux porting houses like Feral Interactive, tiny indies that care and offer day 1 Linux releases like Maschinen-Mensch UG, or companies like Techland who have been solid Linux supporters from early on.

The disappointing bit here is that DIDE never worked on my machine and I had to get a refund. But hey, I tried!

Old stuff

My current favorites list in Steam. Doesn’t count GOG games

This is month three of no new game purchases, but it’s the month of rediscoveries. The list you see on the right is my current Steam favorites list. If you follow these ramblings you must remember it being much shorter. You’re right, it was.

None of these are new games, but my brain is really, really pushing me to buy new stuff. It’s a bad feeling. I found that I can somewhat placate it by just trying new things, so I first downloaded several free-to-play games. They all sucked. Then I went through my list of old purchases, gifts or bundle titles once again and this time picked out games that I might not normally play.

Some of these are genres that I don’t actually like that much, like tower defense or puzzles. Some are games where I suck, like Screencheat. Others I’ve put down earlier because they frustrated me, like Shadowrun.

This time around my brain is calmer, though. Why did I leave these games untouched back in the day? Because I knew for sure that I would hate them? Not really, but my brain made up that story because there was so much other stuff coming out that I didn’t think I’d have the time to play these.

Now I still have nine months, and I suspect that even just checking, thoroughly, whether these games are fun will take up all of that time. No need to buy something new.

They’re all on the rediscoveries list. I will probably not try them with the same fervor as the main games, that’s why the list is separate for now. But if you’re like me, and I suspect you am, why would you even read this, you have a list just like that. You probably bought six, seven Humble Bundles too and ended up with this many titles. Probably more if you’re on Windows — I gave every single one of my Windows keys away, so I have a subset of your problem.

What’s left

The Banner Saga

Chaos Reborn

The Curious Expedition

Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition (Really, really liking this)

Divinity: Original Sin Enhanced Edition

Dropsy

Hand of Fate

The Long Dark

Nuclear Throne

Quake

Shadowrun: Hong Kong – Extended Edition

Star Wars: KOTOR II

Tales of Maj’Eyal

Transistor

Victor Vran

Wasteland 2: Director’s Cut

XCOM: Enemy Unknown

Rediscoveries

Strikethrough for the ones I’ve already shelved again.

Antichamber Wonderfully done, but too hard for my brain

Blocks That Matter Not my style at all

Breach & Clear Don’t like the subject matter

Closure

Cogs So not my style.

Crimsonland Suddenly WASD no longer registered. Shrug.

Din’s Curse Too clunky compared to e.g. Victor Vran

Divine Divinity & Beyond Divinity (via WINE) No time for what feels too much like a slow Diablo clone. Would play if I hadn’t played Diablo back then.